Steve Cropper, musician of Booker T and the MGs, dies aged 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The musician, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed this past Wednesday in Nashville.
Often cited among the finest backing bands in soul music, the group the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent touched countless people around the world," his family said in a release.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, consisting of organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same lick twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to his official biography, he was "integral to virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".
"We would often spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
